


The Dark Side of the Moon (Complete Edition)

by demiclar



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Captured by Hive, F/M, Hive Experiments, Hive Temple, Hurt/Comfort, Sneaking around the Moon, Weird Hive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:35:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28181031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demiclar/pseuds/demiclar
Summary: Tessa descends into a Hive temple to investigate a strange energy reading, only to become quickly caught up in more than she'd planned for.
Relationships: Female Guardian/Male Guardian (Destiny)
Collections: Fireteam Aadya





	1. Descent

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the five Destcember prompts I wrote related to this story just piled into one. Enjoy!

Tessa had to take deep, calming breaths as she descended into the Hive temple. Her heart was already pounding as she snuck into the temple, but she needed to be calm. If she couldn’t be calm, she couldn’t be quiet, which would prove deadly in a place as Dark as this. She could practically feel it reaching out to her, its icy fingers seeming to brush her skin underneath her armor and clothes.

She was dressed in dark armor, her whole body covered in the scent of the Hive. She’d practically bathed in it before she’d descended into the temple, the reek now being the only thing she could smell. She still had yet to go nose-blind to it. Her armor was sparse, dressed in thick dark clothing, with only a few essential plates to protect her, a short dark cloak thrown over her, a mask drawn up above her nose. It was enough to keep her just a bit warm and almost completely quiet, and not much else. She couldn’t afford to have a helmet making noise with its vents, and she couldn’t afford to be slowed down by clunky armor. She’d have to rely on stealth as her defense.

She’d been gone from her ship for a few hours. She’d dropped down on the Earth side of the moon, then had stolen a pike and had tailed a gang of dregs crossing over to the dark side, riding with them for an hour or so until she’d neared the temple, ditching the pike and traveling on foot for another half hour until she’d reached the temple. Once at the temple, she’d picked around until she’d found a quiet back entrance, a tunnel that had been damaged enough to open up into one of the great cracks in the moon’s surface. From there, she’d slipped into the tunnel and had been working her way down for the past hour, sticking to the shadows and folding herself into corners and crevice’s when anything came near.

The only people who knew about her mission were Damian, Eris and Ikora. Eris had conferred with Ikora before sending her down here, and Damian had been told out of necessity, as he was waiting for her word that she’d finished her mission, or an alert from her Ghost that something had gone wrong. Being a member of Ikora’s Hidden, he’d also been able to help outfit her for the mission, providing her with a little breather—silent, but effective enough to filter the air for her to breathe clear, even miles below the surface. He’d also given her a set of contacts to allow her to see. The tunnels were completely dark to both Hive and human eyes, the Hive navigating the tunnels by smell alone. Tessa didn’t have time to learn to do the same even if she had the tools to smell as they did, so the contacts would do. They covered nearly the entire surface of her exposed eyes, acting like a giant pupil, they took all the light their surface area could absorb and funneled it into one direct point in her eye, allowing her vision to be clear and sharp, while also providing her with enough light to see by. They’d taken a bit of getting used to, but she was thankful for them all the same, creeping through the tunnels with at least some confidence as to where she was headed.

All she knew was that she had to go down. Instruments on the moon had been picking up strange readings from deep below the moon’s surface. Through scans they’d been able to narrow down the location to be within the tunnels connected to this temple, but that was about all she knew. Still, she had to try. The Hive were strange already, if they were doing something that was considered strange for them, then she needed to investigate it, or someone did, at least. With everything she’d already done for the City, crawling around in Hive tunnels for a few hours wouldn’t be the worst she'd endured.

She followed the sound of water down, listening to it trickle and drip along the walls. It was cold here, but the Hive’s tunnels were warmer than it was outside, likely for the breeding ground below. Without some source of heat, the eggs would freeze. Tessa could only assume that was the same heat that had melted the ice from above. She followed it down until she found the breeding ground by smell alone, the reek enough for her to sense it a long while before she actually reached it. Still, she’d been aiming for it. Damian had told her thrall often lived close to where the Hive were bred, protecting the young. She found her way to where they fed and lived and rolled in it like a dog, shedding some of her layers and rubbing them into the ground and into their scent, then rubbing her whole body in it as best she could. It might have been disgusting, but she’d rather live than be clean.

Once she was sure she smelled just like a thrall, she continued down.

It felt Darker here, but worse than normal. The energy was coming in waves, Darkness rolling over her whole body, delving into her as if it were searching her. She locked her Light deep in her core, so deep she’d have to actively connect to the Traveler and her Ghost in order to use it again, but she needed it to stay hidden. It was worth the risk. Still, it was making her skin crawl. The closer she got, the emptier the tunnels got, the less often she had to dodge into corners and cervices, the less often she heard a thrall scuttle by in an adjacent tunnel.

But there were also sounds she couldn’t explain. Chilling, dark sounds, from deep rubles to things that reminded her of moaning, to Hive shrieks and shrills. It made her skin crawl, and she had to fight off shudders, but goosebumps covered her body before long.

Ahead of her, light was beginning to bleed into the tunnels ahead, and the tunnel was starting to widen just slightly, not that it meant much though. She’d been on her hands and knees, her back touching the ceiling for hours now. Even her reinforced kneepads hadn’t been enough to ease the ache that had crept into them, and she’d had to stop more than once to give them a break.

Along with the light was another scent, like that of the breeding ground, but it was different, and more potent than the first smell had been. She could only keep crawling towards it, but something felt deeply wrong.

The waves of Darkness were coming more often now, too. Increasing in frequency the closer she got. Now it felt like there was one every few seconds, and they only got faster as she drew towards the opening before.

She had to squint against the light as she reached the opening, but she felt the contact lenses adjust to it quickly, and within a moment she was peering down at the strangest, most chilling thing she’d ever seen.

The tunnel in which she was crouched looked to be one of many that led into the room, the tunnels lining the ceiling and upper half of the walls, looking out over the large open chamber below her. In the center of the chamber was a large altar, a Hive brood mother laid out upon it, a massive Knight bent over her. Around them, three Wizards stood, chanting some sort of spell Tessa had never heard. Both the mother and the Knight were glowing a bright green, on the wall below Tessa were a web of eggs, glowing the same bright green. At the wall were three other witches, their hands raised to the eggs, feeding it a constant stream of their magic. The whole space was guarded, three darkblade Knights posted at the edge of the room, one at each of the three large tunnels that sat on the ground level of the space, each with a set of at least five knights beside them.

Tessa felt her blood go cold as she looked out over the scene. She’d never seen anything like this before, and she was very quickly beginning to believe she was in over her head. She’d known she wasn’t going to like what she found, but this? She’d be lucky to get out alive, and she hadn’t even been spotted. Yet.


	2. Dragged Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa scrambles to escape a Hive temple after investigating a strange experiment.

Tessa’s heart began to pound as she looked out over the twisted scene below her. She’d never seen anything like it, never seen so many powerful Hive in one place, never felt such Darkness in such a concentrated area. It chilled her to the bone. But she had work to do.

Silently, she reached out to her Ghost through their mental link, instructing him to send a message to Ikora and Eris detailing what they were seeing. While he did so, she used her eyes to activate the recording software in her contacts. As soon as they were online and recording, she peered closely at the Hive below her, first at the brood mother and Knight at the altar, then at the Wizards infusing them with magic. She shifted her gaze more directly below her, laying prone in the tunnel and shimmying as close to edge as she dared, she peered at the wall of glowing green eggs, then to the Wizards feeding them with magic. Finally, she marked the three exits, along with the three Darkblade Knights and their own smaller Knights among them, before letting her gaze shift over the whole scene slowly, to allow Eris and Ikora to pick up anything she’d missed.

She cut the video off as soon as she could, instructing her Ghost to send it straight away. Connection to comms was spotty enough as it was, even just to Eris on the other side of the Moon. She needed that video to be sent or all of the risk she was taking would be for nothing. Thankfully, her Ghost quickly informed her it had reached Eris, who was forwarding it to Ikora as they spoke. As soon as he said so, she activated the recording software again, having her Ghost stream the recording directly to Eris, at whatever quality it could reliably reach her at. She wanted both Eris and Ikora to know in case something went wrong.

As soon as her Ghost informed her the connection with Eris was secure, she began to turn round, to head back up to the surface the way she’d come, only her foot slipped on a loose rock, sliding back so quickly she kicked it out of the tunnel. She whirled to look back as silently as she could, crouched on her hands and knees in an agonizing fear until she heard it clatter on the cavern floor far below.

One of the Wizards spoke to another, and the sounds of the brood mother and the Knight’s union stopped abruptly. Tessa didn’t even dare breathe. Then she felt something through the little Light she was still in contact with, most of it locked away in her gut to avoid detection. Some of it must have wormed its way out in her fear. One of the Wizards was rallying power below her, aimed right at the tunnel in which she was crouched.

Tessa made it perhaps five yards before the Wizard struck, and the tunnel crumbled below her. She fell the some fifty feet to the cavern floor amid the debris, her contact lenses struggling to adjust to the sudden brightness as she scrambled to land in a roll without the aid of her eyes. As soon as she hit the floor she was running, rolling to her feet she bolted at a hard sprint towards the closest tunnel, even as the Darkblade knight advanced towards her. She ripped her light from her gut. She was seen, it wouldn’t help her to hide it anymore.

But she’d locked it away intentionally, so thoroughly she’d known she wouldn’t be able to use it at a moment’s notice. She’d assumed she’d have to meditate back into it, the way the Hidden had taught her to do. But she didn’t have time for that now, so there was strain and pain as she funneled it back into the rest of her body, bringing it to her legs to allow her to sprint harder, faster.

She slid under the Darkblade Knight, flinging a ball of void light at it when they raised their axe to crush her. The ball hit them in the face, causing their arm to slump and their axe to miss her, though the Knights around them were still rushing for her. She hurled a knife into one of them as she ran, hitting them in the eye. The Knight collapsed but she didn’t stick around to watch it fall.

Behind her, the Wizards were screeching, and the sound made her blood ice in her veins, but she had to keep running. The tunnel was beginning to come into focus in front of her. It was better lit than the ones before, which proved infinitely helpful as she sprinted forward, leaping over dips and rocks in her path. She used the light to jump clear over three thrall that had run to see what the commotion was about, but there were more ahead of her.

She’d brought a sidearm with her, silenced, not that it mattered anymore. She drew it as she ran, flicking the safety off as she went. Cursed thrall were emerging from a side tunnel ahead of her, but she couldn’t slow down to avoid them. She raised the gun to them, firing two shots as she ran, setting of one in the center of the pack and tearing through the explosion as she raced forward.

But she had no idea where she was headed. Thankfully, Darkblade Knights were slow, and the tunnels were narrowing to hardly accommodate their size, should they still be pursuing her. The smaller Knights were faster, but still slow, the most of her worries being the wizards racing for her and the thrall at her heels, as well as every other Hive creature in this entire place that would be coming for her as soon as they heard all the commotion she was causing. She doubted she’d be able to fight her way to the top, she’d need to find a place to hide and lay low until the commotion died, then she could sneak her way out once it was safe.

She’d hardly settled on this plan before she dove into the first little tunnel she saw, too small for the Knight’s to follow her. She’d only just pulled herself inside before the wall shattered before her, and she bit back a scream as a Knight grabbed her by her ankle and dragged her out through debris.

She flailed, firing her gun into its armor with one hand while her other hand grabbed for a knife. She sunk it deep into the Knight’s leg and it dropped her quickly. She didn’t even make it to her feet before pain exploded in her head and her vision went dark.


	3. Abandoned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa awaits rescue after being captured by Hive

Tessa awoke with her head pounding. She hadn’t even opened her eyes, hadn’t even figured out where she was before pain rioted through her senses so thoroughly, she crumpled in on herself and vomited, nausea flooding her entire body as she gagged and choked, paralyzed for a long few seconds before the contents of her stomach came up and the reek of acid filled her mouth and nose.

She allowed herself a moment to breathe before she pushed herself to side up, sliding away from the vomit as best she could. Blinking the tears out of her eyes, she tried to look around. From what she could tell, her contact lenses were still functioning, but wherever she was, it was so dark even they couldn’t help her make out the space around her. What she could tell was that she was in a cold stone room. Dampness clung to the stones, some of it having seeped into her clothes and had begun chilling her to the core.

Fighting back shivers, she used her hands to feel the space around her, crawling on her hands and knees until she reached a wall, then following it with her right hand. Eventually, she figured out she was in a little cell, one of the walls made of thick bars, cold to the touch, like the rest of the walls. The space was also nearly silent. She could hear nothing over the sounds of her own ragged breathing, or her heart pounding in her ears. She sat and listened for a long while, but there was no one, not even when she dared speaking, calling out to anyone beyond. There was no response, even when she rose her voice to shouting.

The more she moved, the more the pain in her head escalated, and she was forced to sit down, setting her cheek against the cold wall to give herself something else to focus on, besides the pain. She could remember most of what had happened to land her here, she’d snuck into the Hive temple on the moon that Eris and Ikora had instructed her to investigate, had found the source of the strange readings they’d picked up and had sent recordings of the Hive’s experiments to Eris. After that, she’d been detected, and had tried to make a break for it. From her aching head, she could only assume she’d been struck on the head and had been thrown into whatever prison cell she was in now after she’d been apprehended. But why would the Hive leave her here? Unless they had something planned for her.

Her whole stomach did a summersault at the thought, and she reached out to her Ghost through their mental link. Someone had to go and get help, and she was stuck here. She had no weapons, and she feared whatever consequences might come if she attempted to use her Light. She’d either have to sneak out, or wait to be found by other Guardians. She’d instructed her Ghost to alert Damian if anything went wrong, and she’d been streaming her view though her contact lenses to Eris while she’d been trying to escape, someone must’ve been on their way, but after what she’d seen, she doubted he’d be able to get her out on her own. If her Ghost could help him, could lead him to her, they might stand a chance together.

_Be careful._ She told her Ghost after giving him her orders.

_I will._ He responded, his voice reaching her down their mental link. _I’ll be back soon. Hang tight._

With that, she felt him go, remaining hidden while he slipped out of the cell and began to make his way skyward, up and up, through the tunnels. Before long she could no longer sense him, but her Ghost had survived long before he’d found her and revived her. He knew well how to stay out of sight without her protection. Still, she prayed to the Traveler that he would be alright.

It was not long after he left that she found herself growing tired. She worried it might be a side effect of her head injury, but she could only keep herself awake for so long before she drifted off once more.

When she awoke again, it was to noise and light.

She sat up quickly, squinting against the pale light making its way down the hallway, towards her cell. With it came the sound of a few heavy creature’s footsteps, likely Knights. She quickly saw she’d guessed correctly as two Knight’s came into view, one of them holding a lit shard, like the kinds she’d often seen lighting the more used Hive spaces. One of the Knights stepped up to her cell, gripping the bars. She watched it flare with Hive magic, and then the Knight dragged the cell door back with a screech. The other stepped inside and gripped her by her collar just as she was struggling to rise.

She swayed on her feet, and the Knights half led her, half dragged her from the cell, down a corridor. She did her best to keep track of where they were going, in case she needed the information later, though she doubted they were taking her to any place she’d ever want to return to. She’d counted three left turns and four rights, before the Knights finally led her into a dark chamber.

It was smaller than the one she’d been in before, dimly lit by a few crystals like the one the Knight held, but in it were three Wizards, one so large she ached for a weapon in her hands, and her light squirmed in her gut. Months ago, she’d been on a mission into the Pacific Archology on Titan to try to rescue a squad. She’d made contact with one of the survivors briefly, she couldn’t help but recall what the survivor had told her, recalling watching a Wizard rip the light out of another Guardian. Her blood went cold in her veins.

The Knights let go of her in the center of the room, retreating back to stand by the door. They hadn’t even shackled her. She wondered if it was the Hive daring her to press what little advantage she had. Fear was consuming her so thoroughly she wasn’t sure she could even if she wanted to. Not to mention she’d be killed the moment she tried anything.

The largest Wizard loomed over her, inspecting her as it circled round her. Tessa lifted her chin high, doing her best to stay still. When the Wizard had completed its circle, it voiced a gruff order to the others in the room, and all at once magic descended upon her.

First, it lifted her off her feet, lifting her up by her arms. She kicked and struggled but it was for naught, and an instant later the magic seemed to wrap itself around her torso and legs, locking them in place. Then came the Darkness. It descended over her body in waves, diving deep into her tearing its way down her body, starting at her arms raised over her head, then at her head and throat, then lower, to her lungs, creeping towards her Light now roiling in her gut.

Pain tore through her at every brush of it, and when it found her Light, it turned into agony. It felt as though clawed fingers were tearing into her flesh, digging through every defense she had to get to her Light, she couldn’t keep her screams in for long, but she held on tight.

At first, she was so pained and overwhelmed she didn’t notice the room shaking, until one of the Wizards barked an order and suddenly the pain stopped. She wilted in the Wizard’s grip, but her eyes opened to see their focus completely off her. She recognized the sound of an explosion a moment later. The temple was being attacked.

The next thing she knew the Wizards had released her, and the Knights were dragging her back out of the room, back towards her cell. She tried to pull free of them, but they held firm, dragging her all the way back to her cell and locking her within.

It didn’t matter. The Knights left in a hurry, and when she reached out, she could feel Light far, far above her. Guardians had come for her. They were here to rescue her.

Even from her cell she could tell the temple was in an uproar, sounds of yelling and movement reaching even her silent cell. But the explosions went on for hours. Hours went by without her seeing or hearing another Guardian, but she had to hold onto hope.

When the explosions finally stopped, and the gunfire with it, she reached out to feel for the Light once more, only to find it no longer there. She tried to convince herself the Guardian force was regrouping, that they would be coming back for her in time. They had to. They had to be coming for her. Her Ghost must’ve gotten them to help her. Perhaps he was leading them to her?

But hours passed with nothing, and eventually she fell back asleep in the cold, dark cell.


	4. I Am the Hive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa escapes a Hive temple on the moon.

When Tessa awoke next, the Hive temple was utterly silent, but there was light in her cell. It was faint, but she stood carefully, following it cautiously to the wall of her cell, the stones and rocks that had made it up were now shifted and cracked, light seeping in through one of the open cracks. Light meant open space, which meant escape, and her Ghost had yet to come back for her. She was on her own, but this was likely her best option. She certainly didn’t want to wait around to allow the wizards another attempt at ripping her Light from her body, that was for sure.

She reached towards the lit cracks, first moving the rocks she could lift, pushing them out into the space beyond her cell. If she could make a hole large enough for her to squeeze through, she could escape. Her hands were bloody and she’d crushed more than a few of her fingers by the time she succeeded, but she eventually managed to create a hole large enough for her to fit though. As soon as she had, she climbed up and wriggled through it, landing clumsily on the other side, appearing to be in one of the many tunnels the Hive had running though the temple, this one only lit due to an opening to another chamber a good way ahead of her.

Her heart pounding, she quickly packed the rocks back into the hole. She’d been careful push them all out of her cell so she could pack them in from the outside, effectively closing up the hole as best as she could manage. For good measure, she clawed up handfuls of dirt and packed them into the holes between the rocks. Whoever discovered she was gone might suspect her escape had been through the wall if they could see light coming through the cracks.

It wasn’t until she was making her way down the tunnel that she realized the rocks must’ve shifted after the Guardians had bombed the temple earlier. She had no idea how long ago that had happened, being unable to see the daylight was disorienting enough to make her not want to contemplate it for long. Not to mention, she had much, _much_ bigger problems to worry about, escape being the first thing on her mind.

She would need weapons again, not that she wanted to use them, they were a necessity in case she got caught. Not to mention, the tunnels got more populated the higher up they went. She’d had to take out a few thrall on her way in, had stabbed her blades through their throats and had broken them into pieces before spreading them out as widely as she dared. If she could find a few bones laying around, she could make do with them, but she did wish she had her knives and sidearm.

But she couldn’t dwell on what she didn’t have. The thrall made their way with their claws and nothing else. She could do the same. She had to if she were to remain undiscovered. She had no idea where she was going, but she knew Hive kept their most important structures at the center of their architecture, which meant the further outside she went, the less likely she was of being found. She also needed to reach the surface, so she stuck to uphill tunnels, some of them getting so steep she had to climb them with one foot on the wall on either side of her, half dragging, half lifting herself up and out of them.

She also knew she couldn’t stop moving. If she stayed still, she was more likely to be found, so she moved and moved and moved without rest.

She had no idea how long she wandered, hours, but how many? How far had she traveled? All of the tunnels looked the same, except that they were progressively getting brighter, the tunnels widening in shape. If she could find her way out to one of the many cracks in the moon’s system, she could get to the surface that way, and then she could signal a Guardian to help her if she didn’t get shot down first. There was danger around every corner, but she’d certainly prefer the danger on the surface to the danger within the temple.

Eventually, the tunnels became so bright she began to grow restless, and the air was becoming fresher, the breather she wore beneath her scarf giving her cleaner, easier air. At the last stretch, she couldn’t help but worry. She had to duck into dark corners more often had to hide from Hive far more than she’d have liked, but it meant she was getting closer. Still, what if she were to get caught now? When she was so close to the surface? The worries made her unsteady, and she forced them from her mind, instead focusing all her attention on getting out of the tunnels.

When she finally found her way out it was because of the wind. A gust hit her as she was passing another tunnel’s entrance and she quickly followed it, letting it lead her all the way to a jagged crack within the tunnel’s side, leading out into a crack on the moon’s surface. She crawled out of it and climbed to the surface, so overcome with relief all she could do was collapse on the dusty soil, staring up at the stars above her.


	5. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian brings Tessa home after she escapes the Hive temple.

Damian found Tessa wandering on the surface of the moon, or rather, she found him. She caught his attention with a signal mirror she’d made out of a broken piece of a solar panel, and he’d quickly descended to pick her up. He’d found her Ghost, too. A day ago, the Ghost had signaled him while he’d been waiting in orbit, and together they’d been waiting until the Vanguard could put together a team to rescue her. He’d never imagined she’d get out on her own, but she had, and he was quick to pick her up and bring her aboard his ship as quickly as he could.

Her patched up her immediately threatening wounds as best he could as they circled the moon, then sat across from her on the floor of his ship and helped her meditate back into a connection with her Light. When she was healed, he pulled her into his arms and held her firm in his embrace.

“I’m so sorry.” He breathed into her hair. It was covered in moon dust, matted with blood and dirt and whatever else, but he didn’t care. “I shouldn’t have let you go down alone. I should have gone to get you.”

She shook her head against him, her face pressed into his chest. “No. It’s alright. I knew the risks. And it’s all okay now.” He wasn’t sure about that, but he didn’t speak against it, either, not when she’d said it.

“Well.” He said at last, “I’m still sorry.”

She only tucked herself deeper into his arms.

They made for the Tower. When they got there, he took them back to their shared apartment, helping her into the shower and cleaning her hair and body until the only evidence of her capture were the remaining scratches and bruises, and the deep circles under her eyes.

Just as she would have done for him, he dried her off and helped her dress, then carried her out to the kitchen and gave her some food and tea, which she drank slowly, while she hardly nibbled on the food he’d set before, her.

“Why did Guardians bomb the temple?” She asked at last, her mug of tea still held between her hands.

“As soon as Zavala found out about the experiments, he wanted them destroyed. He ordered the bombing in the hopes that it would hit wherever the experiment was happening, and afterwards he could send in a rescue team to get you while the Hive were still scrambled.” Damian explained. “Plans for the rescue kind of…fell through.”

“Well, they probably didn’t reach the experiment, either. None of the Wizards came to kill me because of it, so I’d say they were pretty unaffected.” She told him. He pushed the plate of food towards her, all light foods, a sliced-up banana, a few crackers, a bit of mild cheese. She reluctantly ate a little slice of the banana.

“The explosion shifted the wall of my cell, though.” She told him, taking another sip of her tea. “I was able to push out some of the rocks in the wall and then crawl through. After that I found my way out through the tunnels.”

“I’m glad you were able to get out.” He told her, taking her hand. His Ghost was already relaying the news to Ikora. “Is there anything else you need?”

She looked down at the plate. “I’m…not hungry.” She told him, and he let her push it away from herself without complaint. “Can we just go to bed?”

Her eyes looked tired when she looked up at him, and he nodded, taking the plate from her and putting it into the fridge for later. He didn’t even care enough to take the crackers off before he set it inside. She kept her tea with her though, rising from the stool on which she’d been sat to make her way towards their bedroom. Inside, she set her tea on her bedside table and collapsed onto her side of the bed. Damian followed her in a moment later.

His Ghost turned off the lights, and Tessa crawled into his embrace, snuggling against him and wrapping her arms around him. He did the same in return, but stayed awake long after she’d fallen asleep in his arms. It took him a long while to convince himself that she was alright and that she was safe in his arms once, but he eventually did, sliding down to wrap his body around hers. She would be alright, she was safe now, she was with him and safe, and she was all that mattered.


End file.
